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ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS 



OF THE 



American Museum of Natural 
History. 



Vol. X, Part III. 



CHIPEWYAN TALES, 



BY 
ROBERT H. LOWIE. 



NEW YORK : 

Published by Order of the Trustees. 

1912. 






ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS 

OF THE 

American Museum of Natural History 

Vol. X, Part III. 



CHIPEWYAN TALKS. 

By Robert H. Lowie. 

CONTENTS. 



Introduction 

Crow-head . 

Spread-wings 

Betsune-yeneca 7 * 

The Man in the Moon 

The Sun-Catcher 

The Crow 

Ede'khuwe . 

The Snow-Man . 

The Trip to the Sky 

The Adulteress . 

The Giants . 

The Magical Trees . 

The Origin of a Sand-Hilt 

Marten-axe 

Adventures of Two Boys 

The Stolen Women 

The Bear and the Man 

Wisaketcak 



Paoi. 
17.3 
175 
17'. i 
L82 
L84 
184 
184 
186 
186 
187 
187 
188 
189 

ISM 

L8S 
189 
L93 

l'.ti 
195 



171 



Introduction. 

In the spring of 1908 a grant of $300.00 from the Mrs. Esther Herrman 
fund of the New York Academy of Sciences enabled the presenl writer to 
undertake a short trip to the Chipewyan Indians residing on and about 
Lake Athabaska in what now constitutes the northernmost pari of the 
provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Starting from New York on May 
5th, I proceeded to Edmonton and Athabaska Landing, where I took pas- 
sage in a Hudson's Bay Company scow. Descending the Athabaska River 
to its mouth, I arrived at Ft. Chipewyan on June 8th. The [ndians were 
just gathering at the Fort in expectation of the Dominion Commissioner, 
who makes an annual visit for the purpose of paying annuities, [ncluding 
a several days' excursion to Fond du Lac, Saskatchewan, near the eastern 
extremity of the Lake, I remained in the Ft. Chipewyan country until 
July 6th, when I availed myself of the only opportunity to return prior to 
the fall transports, and ascended the River in a free-trader's boat. 

Owing to the practical difficulties of the work, the tales here presented 
constitute the main part of the ethnological data secured at Ft. < 'hipewyan. 
Taken in conjunction with the Chipewyan T< xts collected by 1 >r. ( Joddard at 
Cold Lake and Heart Lake, which form part of this Volume, and with the 
body of folklore published by Petitot in his Traditions indiennes du Canada 
Nord-Ouest (Paris, 1886), these stories will afford a fair conception of < hipe- 
wyan mythology. After .some hesitation, I have decided to incorporate 
in this paper parts of the Wis£ketcak cycle which were obtained from < hipe- 
wyan Indians or Indians of partly Chipewyan and partly Cree extraction, 
although I am convinced that these talcs are of < !ree origin. I include them 
because I am strongly under the impression thai the Wis&ketcak myths 
were becoming part and parcel of Chipewyan folklore. While the Cree 
name of the hero was the only one used by my informants and was said to 
have no ( 'hipewyan equivalent, there were indication- thai Wisfiketcak was 
being brought into close relation with other ('hipewyan characters of older 
standing. Thus, Francis Fortin ' regarded Wisdketcak as one of three 
brothers, the others being Crow-head and Spread-wing-. While the other 
two always remained with the Chipewyan, Wis&ketcak lived alternately 

i This informant had spent some time with the Beaver IndJ unknown I 

must have had somo white blood iu his veins, while bis mother was .>r pur.- Ohlp« 



174 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. X, 

among the Cree and the Chipewyan. However this may be, the Wisaketcak 
cycle of the Cree was certainly very well known among the Chipewyan and 
part-Chipewyan at the time of my visit and it seemed somewhat arbitrary 

to exclude it. 

While a profitable discussion of Chipewyan mythology will become 
possible only with fuller knowledge of the mythology of other Northern 
Athapascan tribes, it may not be amiss to refer here to a characteristic that 
appears alike in Petitot's, in Dr. Goddard's, and the present collection — 
the practical absence of obscene motives. This trait indicates once more 
the scientific duty of recording such motives when they do occur. An 
historian of modem literature would surely lose sight of an important fact 
if he failed to indicate that themes tabooed in England are treated by 
French writers with the utmost freedom. Similarly, an ethnologist who 
should eliminate from his collections of, say, Shoshone literature such tales 
as seemed offensive from his own point of view would obliterate an important 
difference between the Shoshone and the Chipewyan, and possibly not a 

few other tribes. 

Robert H. Lowie. 

November, 1912. 



1912. 



Ijiii-u , ( "hi ;» wyan Tnh s. 1 < ■' 



Crow-head. 1 



(a) 

Soon after Crow-head's birth, his father died. Crow-head knew nothing 

about him. Once the other Indians were fishing, and there were several 
medicinemen among them. It was in the evening, and the setting 
presented a bloodshot appearance. One medicineman pointed at it and 
asked the boy, "Do you see that red sky? That is your father's blood." 
This made Crow-head suspect that one of the medicinemen had killed his 
father. He went home, where he was living with his grandmother, and 
began to cry. "Why are you crying?" " I heard those men talking aboul 
my father." "There is no use crying, you will be a man some daj " The 
next day the people were fishing. Crow-head punched a hole in the ice and 
began angling with a hook. The Indians caughl nothing, only Crow-head 
caught a large trout. He pulled out its soft parts, and hid the bones under 
his deerskin capote. He started towards the medicineman who had killed 
his father, pulled out the fish spine, and broke it over him. When the 
people went home that evening, they missed the medicineman. They did 
not know what was the matter with him. One man went oul and found him 
lying dead by his fishing rod. This was the first time < Jrow-head ever killed 
anyone. By breaking the fish spine, he had broken that of his enemy and 
thus killed him. 

(b) 

Crow-head was living with a little orphan, whom he called his grandchild. 
He used to wear a crow-skin eape, which warned him of the approach d 

enemies and constituted his medicine. Two girls in the can nee mad, 

fun of his crow-skin garment. Crow-head was displeased and said to his 
grandson, "We will make a birchbark canoe and leave." In a coulee the} 
found fine birchbark. Some Indians from the rocks on either side pelted 
them with snowballs. "Some bad Indians are pelting us with snow, said 
the orphan. "That's nothing," replied Crow-head. Thej took the bark 
for the canoe and returned. In the meantime the had Indians, who were 
Cree, had killed all the Chipewyan. Crow-head piled all tin- corp 
getherinaheap. He was a great medicineman. He began to make a canoe. 
Worms began to come to the corpses. Then he took his crow-skin, laid i 

i Compare Dr. GoddaroVs shorter version, t * ■ »- \" 1 "' 



]7(i Anthropological Papers American Museum oj Natural History. [Vol. X, 

on the dead bodies, and told the boy not to wake him until the next day at 
noon. While he was sleeping, worms crawled into his nose, ears, and mouth. 

Crow-head woke up and started off in his canoe. In the Barren Grounds 
he made many small lodges, and with his medicine declared that all the dead 
should be in those lodges. He left and lay down on the worms. The people 
all came to life again, and nothing remained in place of their corpses save 
their rotten garments. The Cree started homewards, but Crow-head, 
lying on the maggots, caused them by his magic to return to the same place. 
The little boy cried, thinking his grandfather was dead. He pushed the old 
man, but Crow-head pretended to be dead. At last, the boy pulled him by 
his board, then Crow-head awoke and beheld the Cree. The Cree were 
surprised to get back to their starting point and, seeing the two survivors, 
decided to kill them also. Crow -head rose, walked to the river, shaved off 
the bark of a rotten birch, made peep-holes in the tree, hid the boy in the 
hollow, and ordered him to watch. 

Crow-head was a dwarf. He went to the river with the crow-skin on 
his back and a blanket over it, pretending to mourn his lost relatives. The 
Cree, thinking he was but a child, said, "There is no use killing a child like 
that with a pointed arrow." So they shot at him with blunt points, but all 
the arrows grazed off. Then they pulled ashore, and Crow-head fled to the 
brush, pursued by the enemy. When far from the canoes, he threw off his 
blanket, took a deer horn which he carried for a weapon, and ran among the 
enemy, breaking each man's right arm and left leg. Then they said, "This 
is Crow-head." They retreated towards their canoes, but Crow-head 
smashed every one of them. Then he summoned his grandson from his 
hiding place. The Cree had spears, and Crow-head told the boy to take 
them and kill their enemies. The boy did as he was bidden. The Cree said 
1<i the boj , " If it were only you, you could not do this to us." And they 
made a " crooked finger" ' at him. 

Crow-head left his grandson. He was gone for many days. The boy 
cried, not knowing what was the matter. Up the river he heard waves 
beating againsl t he bank. Going thither, he found his grandfather washing 
himself. Crow-head asked the hoy, "What are you crying for?" " 1 
thoughl you were lost." "There is no use crying, all our people are alive 
again." When through washing, he bade his grandson fix the canoe, then 
Id liim to pul the slain enemies' mentulae on the gunwale. They 
-tailed to join the resuscitated Indians. They heard some one playing ball, 
laughing and singing. Putting ashore, they heard the noise of crying. 



contempt, "Ne cunno quidem equivales." The left thumb 

Is held between the index and middl me hand and the palm is turned towards 

the speaker. 



1912.] Lowit 177 

They went into a lodge and asked what the crying was about. "Two 
friends of ours are lost, they have been killed by the Cree." Then they 
recognized Crow-head and his grandson. 

The two girls who made fun of < Irow-head's crow-skin were nol restored 
to life by him. 

(c) 

Late in the fall, when the Chipewyan were going to a lake to fish and it 
was commencing to freeze, two boys came running and told the people that 

two giants taller than pine trees had killed all their friends. The Chipe- 
wyan were camping on the edge of a big lake. None of them slept that 
night for fear of the giants. The next morning the giants were seen ap- 
proaching. Crow-head said, "There is no use in running away, they will 
kill me first." He put on his crow-skin and went toward- them on the 
ice. The first giant wished to seize him, and with long lingers shaped like 
bear claws he tore Crow-head's crow feathers. The giant-, fought for the 
possession of Crow-head, each wishing to eat him up. ( 'row-head hit both 
of them with his deer horn, and killed them. He walked homeward. Ik- 
was so angry that he could neither speak nor sleep. I li- eyes were like tire. 
He went to the lake and, beginning at one point, he commenced to hammer 
along the edge until he got back to his starting place. There he fell dead, 
for his heart was under the nail of his little finger and by hammering the 
ice he had injured it. 

(d) 

Everyone was moving. Two girls were making little birchbark vessels 
for Crow-head. They were just sewing the edge with root-. < me of them 
said, "This Crow-head knows everything, bu1 lie will not know this." And 
she pulled out one of her pubic hairs and twisted it in with the roots. The 
two girls were married, hut never told Crow-head of their husbands, who 
were far out on the lake. An Indian in league with them plotted to I 
Crow-head killed by the husbands, and invited him to run a race to the 
place where they were. Bu1 < 'row-head beat his opponent in the race, and 
killed the women's husbands with his spear. 

The Indians were angry an. I desired to kill Crow-head. They I 
shooting at him, but he merely took his deer horn from hi- crow-skin tippet 
and pointed it at the,, i, so that they hit only the point of his weapon without 
being able to touch him. At lasl he -aid. " If you don'1 cease, 1 shall kill 
all of you." Then they were afraid and let him alone. Nevertheless, many 
medicinemen tried to make medicine againsl him in ■ 
tempted to throw a beetle (?) at him. Crow-head had left the people and 



178 Anthropological Papers American Must inn of Natural History. [Vol. X 

was living by a lake. Once he was thirsty and pulled out the grass growing 
by the water edge. He began to drink and found a beetle in the water. 
He killed it. Then he bit his own tongue and spat out the bloody spittle 
to make his enemies believe they had killed him. They went after him, 
but when they found the slain beetle they knew their medicine was not 
strong enough for him. Then they sent a big bear after him. Crow-head 
had lain down to sleep. In the night the bear caught him, and without 
hurting him held him by his feet and legs, waiting for the arrival of the 
Indians. But Crow-head twisted round and round in the bear's grasp until 
he got free. Then he crawled away between his legs. He turned back and 
dispatched the bear with bow and spear. He cut up the animal, spread out 
its flesh and skin, and started off again. The Indians made a big feast 
when they found the fresh bear meat all ready to be eaten. 

Crow-head, by his medicine, restored the two women's husbands to life. 

He traveled along as far as a lake. There was no snow, but only clear 
ice. He looked through the ice and saw a great many people below it. 
" I will kill all these people," he said. He began pounding the ice with a 
club. But what he had taken for people were only arrows, and one of them 
entered his little finger, where his heart was. The Indians following him 
found him dead. 

Crow-head was so called because he made a crow-skin collar that be- 
came his medicine. 

(e) 

Once Crow-head left his crow-skin in his lodge and went off. Coming 
back, he did not find it in the position he had left it. He asked his grand- 
mother why she had allowed any one to abuse it. "Someone has counted 
every feather on it and has been laughing at it. I will go away and let 
the Cree kill the people." "Whal shall I dor" asked his grandmother. 
"I will take you along." That night the Cree killed all tIh- Chipewyan, 
bul Crow-head and his grandmother escaped. 

(0 

Crow-head and Spread-wings 1 started traveling, knowing that no one 
could kill them. Long ago the Indians did a great deal of fighting. ( !row- 
head and Spread-wings always helped the Indians they stayed with. They 
were related to everybody. Crow-head the older of tin- two. knew it was 
impossible to kill him. Spread-wings could be killed, bu1 had three lives. 

Crow-head started off towards the place where the sun is close to the 

earl h, and he will QOl come back here until the end of the world. 

i See pp. 179, \r--. 



1912.] Lorm i Tales. 



Sprk.\i>-\\ i\ 

(a) 

Spread-wings was off on a deer hunt. He went towards the Barren 
Grounds, leaving his partner with a canoe at the foot of a mountain. A 
hand of Cree began to pursue him. He fled towards the canoe, bul was 
headed off. He had no arrows, bul only spears. He ran along the river, 
the Cree pursuing him. By his medicine he made them stupid, so thai they 
passed by his canoe without noticing it. They may be running even to-day. 

Spread-wings called for his partner who was very much scared. They 
got to a high knoll. Spread-wings said, " I'll get on top and look out for 
Indians." He told his partner to paddle to a certain point, where Spread- 
wings would meet him. There was a very steep hill between, hut Spread- 
wings thought, "I'll try to get there before you," and arrived there first. 
There was an inlet there, hut Spread-wing's comrade, for fear of the Cree, 
did not go ashore, but paddled on. Spread-wings walked; again he had to 
cross a steep mountain. His partner paddled beyond the next inlet, think- 
ing Spread-wings was ahead. At last. Spread-wings actually gol ahead and 
threw sticks across the next narrows, barring his companion's path. He 
himself hid in the hushes. When his partner came and found the path 
barred, he tried to turn hack, hut a strong current prevented him. Then 
Spread-wings jumped into the water and pulled him ashore. 

Spread-wings caught a large jackfish, which they cooked and ate Then 
they started off again and traveled along a great lake until they gol hack 
to their own people. Spread-wings told them how timid his partner had 
been and said henceforth he would travel alone. 

The next day he started oil' by himself. He stopped at a little lake. 
There he heard a noise behind him. A great frog, as big as a moose, was 
going to attack him. In fear for his life he tried to work hi- medicine, and, 
seizin- -ome rotten pine branches along the shore, he threw them at the 
frog, hitting it between it- eyes and killed it. 

He continued traveling with his blankets. When tired he stopped, 

made a lodge of spruce w I, and laj down to dee],. When rested, he went 

out without making a fire or arranging his bed. He traveled about all day, 
killed some deer and cached them. When he returned to his lodge he found 
a fire burning in it and his Led was arranged. This happened several days 
in succession. One day he thought he would find out who was doing this. 

i Adam said that he was related i<> this hero, while Forth] claimed I him 

when ho was old and blind and unable to walk. 



180 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. X, 

He came home earlier than usual and saw smoke rising from the lodge. 
Gently lifting the door flap, he saw a woman sitting there. Two beds were 
prepared, one for him and one for herself, not side by side, but with only 
the pillows together. She told him she was sent from heaven, because God 
pitied him on account of his loneliness. She was, however, not a real person, 
but a moose. Spread-wings did not know this, but rather suspected it. 
They lived together until the fall. Then the woman said, "My relations 
bade me meet them at a certain mountain." They got to the mountain, at 
the foot of which there was a coulee with willows and birch. Spread-wings 
knew this was a moose country. Xot long after they got there a noise of 
moose was heard, and the woman said, "My son is coming," and, a little 
later, " My son-in-law is coming," and, finally, "My husband is coming." 
She ran off to her husband, turning into a moose before she got to the brush. 
Before going she told Spread-wings not to return home, but to wait for her 
there for two nights. She stayed in the brush for two nights, then she 
turned into a woman again and re-joined Spread-wings. 

Alter a while she again told Spread-wings that her relatives wanted to 
meet her in another plaee. They started out. Near that place she bade 
Spread-wings wait . She heard a moose calling, but several times she did not 
recognize the voice and did not go. The fourth time she recognized her 
moose husband's voice. Again she bade Spread-wings wait for her for 
four days. Spread-wings heard the moose call, and thought to himself, 
" 1 am sure my wife is going to turn into a moose now." He traveled after 
her, but alter a while turned back, leaving his blankets hanging. He went 
to hunt chickens and partridges. Finally, he turned back. He found that 
the woman had already erected a brush lodge, from which smoke was rising. 
This time she had arranged the beds next to each other. "Why did you 
make the beds this way now and not before'.''" She said that before she 
had not received her friends' and husband's permission, but now it had been 
granted. "You can do with me as you choose." The man said that was 
w hat he had always wished, but did not care to ask for. 

They lived together. About spring the woman fell sick. Her husband 
did not go hunting. She gave birth to two young moose. On the next 
day she gave birth to two young boys. She told her husband she should 
tay with him an\ longer, bu1 should return to her own people. 

She had been sent for one year to bear him sons, who were to help him. 
As she was nursing the boys, she had been obliged to neglect the little 

i le. She made lor the brush and called like a moose, then the young 

"in followed. Tin- man also followed her, but only found her discarded 
clothes and came home crying. Before going she bade him stay in that 
place for a month until his boys were big enough to help him. 



1912.] Lowie, Chi-pewyan Tales. I si 

After a month Spread-wings began traveling with his boys. They came 
to a pine bluff. The younger one said, "There's a very strong smell here, 
it smells of people." "Perhaps it is nothing." "Yes, there are people 
here." They found the tracks of a hand of Cree. The younger brother 
did not want to follow on account of the strong smell, and kept behind his 
father and brother. After some time they got to the < !ree. 

The younger brother was in the habil of not obeying his father, but 
only his elder brother. The elder brother wished to gel married, and with 
his father's consent he married a Cree woman in the fall. 

Once the two brothers started on a moose hunt. They came to a little 
lake. Being thirsty, they wanted to drink. The younger brother said, 
"Let me drink first." The elder brother consented. Tin- younger drank. 
then, while the elder was drinking, he ran into a bush and turned into a 
moose. The elder brother followed him for a distance, then started in 
another direction, found moose-trucks, shut a moose, cut it up, cached it. 
and went home. He tried to track his brother, whom he found sleeping 
with little horns on his head. The horns fell off. The elder brother took 
his horns, waked the younger one, and took him homeward. The younger 
brother was very thin when he got there. He found the smell of the < ice 
too strong for him. 

The younger brother did not want to get married. He stayed there all 
winter, but in the spring he felt like traveling. The smell of people was ton 

strong for him. He traveled away as a a se and lived as one. The elder 

brother started on a moose hunt, and began tracking until he got a moose. 
He was going to shoot it, but thought it might he his brother, so he called 
out, "Brother!" Then the moose really turned into a person again. He 
took him home, but fell on the way, and then the younger ran away again 
as a moose. The elder brother ran after him and caughl him, and then he 
turned into a human being again. Hut when near the camp, he again 
changed into a moose and escaped. The elder brother cried. "After this, 
don't let me catch you, or I'll shoot you." Bui he never could catch him. 

I, 

One winter no dvvv were to he found and all the wolves were starving. 
The wolves started toward the big sea. They saw some large object lying 
on the shore. It turned out to be a walrus I ': All piled on top of it. and 
though many were killed they finally succeeded in killing the monster. The 
wolves had a good U^'tl on the walrus. Two deer were allowed to 
A herd of deer were coming. 



. i do qoI understand ' in- sen 



1S2 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. X, 

In the Barren Grounds the wolves nearly died of thirst. When they got 
to the top of a mountain, all began to scratch there, trying to get water 
from a hole by magic, but they did not succeed. At last they asked Spread- 
wings, who was a wolf at the time. "If you fail, we shall die." Spread- 
wings always kept an arrow with which he had once been shot. Beginning 
to sing, he pointed the arrow towards the sky. Clouds came, rain began to 
fall, and the hole was filled with water. All the wolves drank of the water. 
Spread-wings held the arrow upward until all had drunk their fill, then he 
reversed it, and the water disappeared from the hole. 



Betsune-yeneca". 1 

Many Indians were camping together. One evening they heard a little 
baby crying in the brush. A number of young girls ran thither, but as they 
approached the noise ceased. Not long after, the crying was heard again. 
This occurred three times. The fourth time an old woman went to see 
what was the matter. Again she heard the sound as if it came from directly 
in front of her. She found some deer dung. Scratching it up, she found a 
baby about eight inches long. She picked it up, and it began speaking to 
her. The old woman had sons who had gone off hunting. When they 
returned, the baby asked one of them for the front leg of the smallest deer 
slain by them. It was given to him, and he fed on that. Another time they 
killed plenty of deer. Betsune-ycneca 11 again requested his grandmother 
to ask for the leg of the smallest deer, but the men refused, saying they 
wanted it for their own children, and offered him some other part. When 
the old woman returned without the leg, Betsune-ycneca' 1 was very angry. 
" Because I am small they insult me, but I will make them starve." The 
other people heard what he said and were angry. They said, "We'll see 
u hether t he lit tie hoy can make us starve." They went away. The grand- 
mother stayed with the child. 

Betsune-ycneca 11 told the old woman to cut plenty of pine branches, 
to put the ends iii the fireplace of each abandoned lodge, and to let him 
know as soon as the tips of the sticks were burnt. After a while she called 
him. In his uncles' lodges the sticks were burnt in deer hoof shape, in the 
other lodges they were burnl round (?). "This means that my uncles will 
always have deer, while the other people will starve." lie started off with 
his grandmother, who was afraid of starving. Betsune-ycneca" said to her, 



■ I'll":- ' i i lis grandmother-raised-him." C pare Dr. Goddard's 

p 50, and Petltot, pp. 385 :i'.is. 



1912.] Lovrie, Chipewyan Tales. 183 

"There need be no fear of starvation, just do as I tell you." She carried 
him on her hack. They got to a muddy little lake. "Stop and fish here," 
he said. "Why, there is nothing here but worms." "Take me down and 
I'll drop my hooks." Some animal with a white covering came to the hook. 
It was a gigantic jackfish. Then Betsune'-yeneca n told her to lower the 
hook, and she caught a black trout. "That's enough," said the boy, " there 
won't be any more now. Build a brush lodge here, dry the fish, make grease, 
and we'll camp here." The old woman did as she was bidden. Betsune*- 
yeneca 11 went out. She thought he was only playing, but at noon he was not 
yet back. She saw his snowshoe tracks leading to the brush. Then she 
began to bemoan his loss and was afraid that all alone she should starve. 
But in the evening she heard a noise, and he came in covered with ice. " I 
think, you have fallen into the ice." "No, take off my belt." Inside his 
coat there were plenty of deer tongue tips. He had killed the deer by biting 
off the tips of their tongues, and what seemed to be ice on him was only 
the foam from their mouths. The next morning he said, " Let us go where 
I have killed the deer. The first one we see you will dry and pound lor me; 
gather the grease but don't eat any yourself." It was a little hit of a deer, 
which was lying on the lake. Betsune-yeneca 11 bade his grandmother buHd 
a shelter. She dried the deer meat, of which they had plenty. 

Then the boy went to see his uncles. He got to where they were hut 
concealed himself. By a lake he saw their hooks set for jackfish. He took 
off his snowshoes, turned himself into a deer, and scratched around near the 
hooks. Only his two uncles were alive, subsisting on fish and bear meat; 
the other Indians had perished. They noticed the deer. " It is odd that 
that little deer is continually scratching around where our hooks are." Then 
one of them said, "That was a queer boy that our mother found; perhaps 
he is a medicineman and has turned into a deer to laugh at us. We had 
better track him." They got to a clump of pines; there the deer tracks 
ceased, and snowshoe tracks began. The men followed them until tiny 
got to a lake, where they saw a spruce tree lodge. They found their mother 
having plenty of meat and fat. The little fellow was there, bo -mall that 
he could hardly be seen. After the arrival of her sons, the old woman 90011 
fell sick and died. The boy turned into a deer again ami disappeared to- 
wards the Barren Grounds. Before leaving he said, "As long as you and 
your children live, you will always tell a tale about me." 



184 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. X, 



The Man in the Moon. 1 

Once there was a great beaver hunter. Returning from the chase one 
day he made a lot of grease and forbade the people to touch it. Neverthe- 
less, one man put his finger in, and tasted of the fat while the hunter was 
pulling down his leggings. When the beaver hunter noticed what had 
occurred, he was furious. He went outside, followed by his little dog, and 
announced to the people, "Henceforth you can look for me in the moon." 
That is where one can see him, with his leggings down and a little dog 
sitting on his lap. 

The Sun-Catcher. 2 

A man named Ayas was traveling about in the brush. He came to a 
trail, where he found all the sticks burnt. He lay down to sleep there, 
and while he was sleeping something passed over him and burnt up his deer- 
skin coat. He woke up and was very much vexed at the sight of his burnt 
garment. Unstringing his bow, he cried, "I'll find out what passes this 
place." He made a snare of the string, setting it in the road. He went 
home. The next day, there was no sign of the* sun's rising. Ayas' sister 
suspected that her brother was to blame, and said, "You are always after 
some mischief." He replied, " I set a snare the other day, I'll see whether 
I have caught anything." He found that he had snared the sun. All the 
animals tried to release it, but it jumped to and fro, so that it was too hot 
for them. At last, a small yellow mouse began gnawing at the string until 
it was gnawed through, but the mouse was burnt to death. The sun started 
on its path. This is how the skin of one species of mice came to be yellow. 
[f it had not been for the mouse, the sun would have remained a prisoner. 



The ( aROw. 3 

A large band of Indians were living along a lake. All kinds of white 
birds came there. A man called out to them, " I shall paint you with differ- 
ent colors, it docs not look well for all of you to look alike!" He left the 
white wavy as it was, painted the loon black and white, and so gave a 



i in another version the Anal statement is to the effect that one can see the kettle with 
beaver grease and the little d 

I ( '« >mi mr<- Pel ItOt, p. 411. 

« < lompare Petltot, p 



1912.1 Lowie, Chipewyan Tales. Is.", 

different color to each species. At lasl came the crow, who was quite white. 
"I'll spot you like the loon," said the man. Bu1 thecro^ protested strongly , 
saying he did not want his clothes painted a1 all. Bu1 the Indians caughl 
him, and the painter blackened him all over, saying, " Y<>u arc too conceited, 
I'll blacken you." All the other birds and the Indians ran away. The 
crow tried to catch them, but only managed to gel hold of the blackbird. 
The crow said, "You, at least, shall be of the same color as myself," and 
rubbed his paint all over the blackbird. 

The crow continued to be angry. He started first south, then north- 
wards to the Barren Grounds, and built a fence to prevenl the deer from 
coming to the Indians. The painter bade different birds -emir the country 
for deer, but they returned without Inning found a trace of them. A long 
time after, the night-owl, perching on a tree, saw the crow coming from the 
south. The crow was seated on a pine; lie wore a necklace of deer' 
balls. The people said, "The crow is getting deer away from us." The 
crow laughed, and said, "You made me black, yon are looking black from 
starvation now." The bird-painter bade the night-owl watch the crow's 
movements. He saw the crow fly first south, then return and go in the 
opposite direction to the Barren Grounds until he disappeared between two 
big mountains. All the Indians started after him. They found a big 
enclosure with two gates between the rocks. Several animal.- were -cut to 
get through these entrances, but the crow beat them back with a club. 
The wolves tried first, then the lynx attempted to crawl through, putting 
in his nose, but the crow dealt him a blow that flattened his nose to it- 
present shape. Then two white foxes were sent. They gol through the 
first door, and the crow, instead of hitting them, only broke hi- own 
The foxes got through the second door. Then the deer began to -alb forth. 
The night-owl was watching them and cried out, "Tluy are coming as 
plentiful as maggots!" There were so many that thej trampled down tin- 
track so as to become invisible, they could only be heard coming. The 
crow wept at the loss of his game, but by his medicine he made the -kin- of 
the escaping deer so hard that weapons could not pa-- through them. -.» the 
Indians continued to starve. At length, the crow -aid, " You played me a 
fine trick, but I played yon one also by making you 3tarve. but from to- 
morrow on you shall be able to chase the ^n-r again, only leave me the liver 
and the inside fat." The people promised to do so a- long as be lived. 
Then their young hunters went out and go1 plenty of meat. The Indian- 
still leave the guts and fat for the CrOWS to feed on. 



18G Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. X, 



Ede'khuwe.' 



Formerly the Indians would play with caribou, making them stand 
quiet by patting them. Some silly girls once said, "Let us mark some of 
them."' So they took some string from the back of their hair, tied it around 
the deer's necks and cut their ears. "We'll know these deer when they 
come next year." In the fall the deer returned to the Barren Grounds. 
Next year there were no deer. The people began to starve. One man said, 
" I '11 see whether I can't find them." He kept on traveling until he reached 
a big body of water. On the sea there was a dead calm. He saw deer 
swimming, many of them with strings around their necks and with marked 
ears. These would not let the others return to the Indian country, but 
drove them back. The hero went to the deer and cut off the strings from 
their necks. He seized one little deer and led it off towards his people. Its 
mother followed. Then all the other deer also followed. They got to a 
big mountain. The Indians were on the other side and perceived Ede'khuwe 
with something beside him. After feeding, he sent the little deer to the 
Indians, and all the others started in the same direction. Without Ede'k- 
huwe no more caribou would have been seen in this country. 



The Snow-Man. 

Once it continued to be winter for two years. There were no geese in 
the country, and moose, deer, and caribou had no horns, the people did not 
know why. The ice never thawed during all this time. The Indians could 
not dig holes for their nets. They made big fires, heated stones red-hot, 
and threw them on the ice, but it was too thick to be broken through. The 
Indians were beginning to starve. Towards springtime there was a little 
thawing, but then it became winter once more. Many died of starvation. 
The survivors were crying for fear. One man started off towards Fond du 
Lac to set snares for partridges. When visiting his snares he met a person 
on the road. This person was quite white, and behind him came nothing 
l.ut snow. It was the Snow-Man. The Indian said, "What are you 
coming here for? The Indians up north are killing all your children." 
When Snow-Man hoard this, he turned right about to the Barren Grounds. 
Then summer came, the geese returned, and moose and deer had horns once 
more. 



I The meaning of this name is " Worms-in-his-horns. 



1912.] Lowie, Chipetvyan Tales. Is 



The Trip to the Sky. 1 

Once in the summer, the Indians had neither fish nor game to eat. They 
had a council and decided to make medicine. One man said, " Lei 
some squirrels." They got one squirrel and put ii alongside the fire. They 
worked medicine until the squirrel's hair was singed yellow. The medicine- 
worker thus found out where good weather and bad weather, rain and snow, 
as well as all the animals, were kept. He told the people all the animals had 
gone up to the sky, and advised them to go there also. 

The people set out in canoes and kept traveling for a time, then they 
made a portage to a little lake. They saw a cloud hanging across the sky. 
All animals were kept in this cloud in different sacks, and the lasl sack was 
nearest to the sky-hole. The men paddled up (sic) their canoes until they 
got to the cloud, and a little fellow told them what kind of animals were 
contained in each bag, until they got to the last. They asked him several 
times what was contained in it, but he refused to answer. 

At last they seized the sack and ascended to the sky with it, then they 
dropped it through the sky-hole. The sack contained all the heat, and in 
falling it burst, so that the heat came out and burnt up the world. They 
also took the jackfish and threw it down that is why it has such a peaked 
head now. 

There was no earth then, only water was left. 2 The people sent down 
birds from the sky to dive for land. They dived down but came back 
without finding land. At last one bird (pin-tail duck) dived. It did not 
return for a long time. It came at last, with mud in its mouth and feet. 
It was sent out again, and brought more mud. It kept flying back and 
forth, bringing more mud; and thus gradually built up the earth again. 



The Adulteress. 3 

There was a woman who did not care for her husband. Every e\ ening 
she went out to gather firewood for the night. However, 3he nev< 
enough to last through the night, so she would leave in the middle of the 
night under pretext of fetching more. In reality she went to a rotten birch 



1 Compare Potitot, p. 373. 

2 This is unintelligible from the version lure presented, but becomes cli 

talo, in which the expedition to the sky takes place during an exceptional!] M we «rl] 

the purpose of getting heat from the upper world u let, thee • ipreadi 

rapidly, melting all the snow and thus producing a n I. 

» Compare PetitOl . p. 107. 



188 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. X, 

tree as large as a lodge, in which two large ants were dwelling. These would 
embrace her. At length her husband grew suspicious and followed her one 
night. He saw her tapping the tree and turning her back towards it. The 
ants came out and embraced her. When the man saw this, he turned back 
home and left the country. Not finding him on her return, his wife tracked 
him, but never found him. Perhaps they are still traveling that way to-day. 



The Giants. 

A giant used to hunt beaver along Lake Athabaska, going about half way 
to Fond du Lac. He was bringing up a little Indian boy, whom he called 
his grandchild, and whom he kept alive after killing all the other Indians. 
In hunting beavers he broke the beavers' lodge, and they all escaped. He 
broke another lodge. One beaver went across the lake, another up the 
river. The giant looked around for the former, found a little hole and saw 
the beaver's head popping out. He struck it with a stick, so hard that blood 
was sprinkled all over, hence the reddish appearance of the rocks there. 
The beaver that went up the river escaped, that is why there are many 
beavers there. 

The giant cut off the beaver's tail. Seeing the scales he said, "This is 
not good to eat," and threw the beaver's tail away. The Indian boy picked 
it up and put it in the fire. The scales fell off, and the inside was found 
good to eat. This was the first time the giant ever ate a beaver tail. When 
through eating, he put his grandson in his mitten, and walked off. He found 
moose tracks, but said, "These are rabbit tracks." His grandson said to 
him, "These are not rabbit (racks but moose tracks." They got to a moose, 
and HotcowEj the giant, put it in his belt as one would a rabbit. Then 
lie went to the Barren Grounds, and thence to the sea, where he met 
another giant, named Djeneta. Djeneta was fishing in the ocean with 
a hook. 

Before reaching Djeneta, HotcowE took his grandson out of his mitten, 
and bade him approach the fisherman half way and deliver him a challenge 
to fight. The boy did as he was bidden, and when near enough shouted, 
"Grandfather!" Djeneta asked, "What do you want?" The boy deliv- 
ered his message, and ran back, hut by that time the giants had already 
each i Made a step forward and were already fighting above him. The fisher- 
man was getting the hot of the contest, when Hot cow k called to his grand- 
child, who always carried a beaver tooth, to cut the giant's ankle. The boy 
oIm \ ed, causing the gianl to fall down so that HotcowE could easily dispatch 
him. 



1912.] I,. .-,■. , Chipewyan Tales. 189 

The fisherman's head fell on this island ' while hia feet reached another 
land. Mud gathered on his corpse, connecting the island and the other 
country, and then deer for the first time ran from the new land into this 
country. 

The M \ci( m. Ti;i i s. 

Long ago men and women going off together would sometimes ! 
their little ones alone at home with a small lire and, by medicine, could send 
in large trees to feed the fire. But when the medicine gol weak, the branches 
would sometimes hurt the children. Once a woman, returning home, found a 
baby's belly torn and the tree covered with blood. She was furious, and 
began beating the tree. Since then the trees can no more be made to come 
in by themselves. 

The Origin of a Sand-Hill. 

There was once a big beaver that was killed by a giant. It was on this 

lake. While dying, it kicked about with its legs and thus originated a sand- 
hill. 

M URTEN-AXE. 

Marten-axe was a wonderful man. He used to travel among his friends. 
Whenever he found Cree, he would always kill them. {{<■ was in the habit 
of staying with the Chipewyan. Once he started out to travel, and came 
to a band of Cree. He knew all languages. So he told the Cree that he 
was a Cree himself and that the < Ihipewyan had killed all his friends. I [e 
traveled with the Cree to the top of a high mountain, where he lay down. 
In the night, while the Cree were sleeping, he tied all their legs with a cord, 
to the same rock. Then he rolled the rock down the mountain, killing all 
the Cree. 

Al)\ l.\ I i RES 01 Tw r>"i >. 

A band of Indians was staying along a lake. Once two little boj were 

playing by the lake, while the < !ree came and killed all their people. W hen 
they returned home, one of them said, "All our people are killed, I don't 
know what to do." They walked aboul crying. Towards evening two 

1 My interpreter suKKcstn I "North America." 

» Compare Dr. Goddard's versio ilume, p. 46, and P( tltol p 



190 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. X, 

young unfledged geese came swimming along. The boys caught hold of 
them. Finding an old canoe by the shore, they tied the geese to it and bade 
them swim off to their country. The boys fell asleep, while the geese pulled 
their canoe along. When they woke up, the geese were full-grown. They 
were hungry and had nothing to eat, so they killed the geese, roasted them, 
and ate their flesh. 

They started off traveling and continued going for a long time. They 
got to a lodge. There was a giant family living there. The children were 
outside. The mother came out; she did not know what kind of people 
the boys came from. She took them in, and they were kept there for 
a long time. After a while, the giant dreamt that some Indians were 
coming. He said to the boys, "My grandchildren, I am hungry for fish 
and beaver. Walk along the shore, and if you see anything white rising, 
cry out, 'My grandfather would like to eat some beaver and fish!'" 

The little fellows started out. They saw something white rising from 
the water and called out as bidden by the giant. Then a beaver and a 
trout came out of the water, and they killed both. They carried them to 
the lodge. The giant cut up and dried the trout. Of its eyes he made 
pemmican for the little fellows. He made two bows and arrows and gave 
them to the boys. " If you shoot with this arrow, and it should get stuck 
anywhere, don't remove it, but leave it in that place. This other arrow 
will never stick, but will always fall down again." Then he bade them 
refrain from eating all their meat at once, but ordered them always to leave 
a remnant. He showed them the way to their own country, and they 
started out. 

They had something to eat when they got hungry, but, remembering 
the giant's caution, they pushed a part of their meat back into their sack. 
In the evening they opened the sack, and it contained as much pemmican 
as before. They ate all but a small piece, which was replaced in the bag. 
In the morning the meat was still of the same size as originally. 

They hunted some chickens perched on a tree. One was killed and fell 
down, but the arrow stuck. The boys took the chicken and started off 
again into the bush, but there they found the arrow lying in front of them. 
They walked on. Again some chickens alighted on a tree, not very far 
away. They shot at it, and the one arrow got stuck though rather close to 
the ground. One boy was going to get it. His brother said, "We were 
told not to go after that arrow." The first boy said it was not high, and 
insisted on getting it. As he touched it. the arrow ascended higher. "I'll 
jump up and gel bold of it." "No, don't," said the other boy, but his 
brother disobeyed and jumped. Then the arrow went up witli him to the 
sky. 



1912.] 19] 

It was summer when he was traveling on the earth, but in heaven h 
winter. The arrow stopped, and the boy began to travel about. It looked 
like his own country in winter. He saw partridge tracks, and finally I 
to people's tracks. Following them for a long time, he got to two lo 
one being large and the other small. He entered the small one, and found 
an old woman sitting there all alone. 

In the large lodge people were heard singing and laughing. The old 
woman took a lot of coal and blackened the hero'- face with it. After a 
while her two girls came in from the large lodge. Seeing the boy, they 
called out that their mothers had a fine-looking visitor. They went back 
to their large lodge and told the other inmates aboul him. Meanwhile the 
old woman washed him and dressed him up nicely. When the girla re- 
turned, and saw the boy nicely dressed, they no longer laughed a1 him, hut 
were surprised. They told the people of the lodge what ;i nice boy was 
staying with their mother. 

Both desired to marry him. In the night the boy slept in the old woman's 
lodge and the girls came in and lay down on each side of him. He turned 
to the youngest, et sub vestem manum introduxit, sed aliquid manum 
prehendit, and he pulled it back. Tunc ad utrius filiae vaginam pedem 
suum propellit, sed iterum aliquid cum prehendere conatua est. lie pulled 
it back. One woman had mice under her dress, the other one ermines. 
They all fell asleep. In the morning the boy still slepl soundlj , He sunk 
way down into the ground. The old woman and the girls started oil' with 
their lodge-poles. The girls in one place smell a person. They heard some 
animal calling underground. "One of us had better get ribs to dig up this 
fellow." They got a rib and began digging, but it broke. Then th< 
a moose rib, and with it they succeeded in digging up the hoy who had 
turned into a wolf. He recognized the girls, and said, "You pretend to 
know much, but, I know nearly as much as you. Here are two arrow-, it 
a female comes, it shall belong to the Ermine girl, if a male comes, it -hall 
belong to the Mouse girl." 

The girls saw the tracks of a male and of a female moose. The wolf said, 
"If a moose starts running, just shoot your arrows and follow into the 
bush." They soon came to tin- female, cut it up and dried it- meat. The 
male was shot and treated in the same way. As the wolf had directed, one 
girl stayed by one moose, the other by the other, while the wolf remained 
with the mother. The wolf and the old woman heard wolves bowling in 

the distance. Starting in that direction they found thai ■ girl had been 

rent to pieces by the wolves and that a lot of ermines were running aboul 
there. The wolves had only torn the Mouse-girl' dre and then- wen- a 
lot of mice running about there. The wolf .aid, " Your daughters tin 



192 Anthropological Paper* American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. X, 

they knew lots, but I know more." He started off with the wolves. Then 
he turned back into a person and married the Mouse-girl. The three then 
stayed together. 

The boy was a great hunter. They had plenty of dried meat. The old 
woman would make rawhide cordage and when she had made a great deal 
of cord, she said, " I know a place where there is a hole in the sky, and where 
Ave can go down to another world." 

They traveled a long time to the sky-hole. She made a moose-skin bag 
for the boy, passed a line through it, and said, "I'll let you down to your 
own country. When it stops, you'll open the sack and come out. Pull 
the line to let me know you have arrived." He descended for a long time, 
until the sack stopped. He got out, and jerked the rope, whereupon the 
sack immediately ascended again. 

He found himself on an island, and all around it was nothing but foaming 
rapids. He got to an eagle's nest. Only the young eagle was there. He 
said, " I am very anxious for you, for my people are wicked. I '11 try to save 
you.' Hide under my wing-feathers." So he pushed the boy under his 
feathers. Then he continued, "My mother will soon come. When she 
approaches it will be dark like a cloud. When my father comes, it will 
sound like a big wind . ' ' After a while it began to grow dark. " My mother 
is coming." When- the female arrived she said, "My son, I smell some 
people here." But the eaglet replied, "There is nothing here." She 
repeated, but he insisted that no one was there. After a while a big storm 
was heard, and the father bird arrived. "My son, I smell the odor of 
people here." The boy denied that there were any people there. The 
father repeated his statement, but the boy persisted in his denial. After a 
time the old eagles started off again. Then the eaglet said, " Pull out two 
feathers from each side of my body, and try to fly." He put the feathers 
on the boy's arms, and said, "Fly around." The boy began to fly but his 
legs hung down. " Pull two feathers from my tail, and attach them to your 
legs." The boy did so, and then flew about like an eagle. "Now you can 
fly to your country, but always stop for the night," said the eaglet. " When 
yon reach your country, stick my feathers on the trees." The boy flew to 
his country. He arrived there by night, and stuck up his borrowed feathers. 
He traveled homeward, camping every night, as ordered by the eaglet. 
One day he was hungry, and began to break a beaver lodge, making a 
chisel of rib bones and a spear. He watched for the beaver, but though 
something stirred in the water, no beaver came up. As it grew dark, he 
camped. Suddenly something caught hold of him from behind. It was 
one of the big eagles, who Hew oil' with him. They got to a frozen creek, 
all covered with blood. There the bird threw the boy down, but the latter 



L912.] Lovrie, Chipewyan Tales. 193 

just put out his chisel, and was tiol hurl by the fall. Then the bird again 
seized him, carried him off, and hurled him againsl a sharp ice-crag. Bui 
again he put forward his chisel, so thai it stuck in the ice, and he was 
Then the eagle said, "My children will kill him." So he took him back to 

the eyrie. The young ones recognized him. The old bird -aid, 
brought you a person to kill when you are hungry." The young bird 
"We'll keep him for company, let him stay with us." Alter much discussion 
the old eagle finally consented. Then the old eagles Hew oil'. The young 
eagle again gave feathers to the hoy, and he Hew oil'. 1 



Tin. Stolen Women. 

A hand of Chipewyan were staying by a lake. While the men were 
hunting, some Cree stole two of the Chipewyan women, who were sisters. 
Returning, the Chipewyan wanted to go after the Cree, bul there were- too 
few of them. So they stayed where they were, and eontinued to hunt deer. 
Each man would skin his deer, put all the deer meat in the hide, and thus 
drag it to the lodge. The hrother of the stolen women was a medicineman. 
He was very angry and started alone after the Cree. On his way he passed 
three birds' nests. He had to speak to each before they allowed him to 
pass, and they gave him information as to the Cree. The fourth animal 
he met was a flying squirrel. It told him where he tnighl find hi- sisters. 
"First, you must pass a snail, and if you lack food, ask the -nail for some. 
Then you will get to an old woman." The man traveled on, until In- camped 
by a creek. He had nothing to eat. When a snail came, he asked it for 
food. The snail dived into the water, broughl up four white fish and gave 
them to him. But on opening the sack, he found the fish transformed into 
snails. So he threw them away, and traveled on until he gol to a lodge. 
He entered. There was an old woman there. "Grandmother, I am very 
hungry." "I have nothing to give you, hut <, r <> to the bush, and you will 
be sure to find some chickens. Pluck a chicken on the spol where it tails 
dead, stir up the feathers with a stick, ami I. low on them. Then every 
feather will turn into a chicken." lie acted accordingly, and each feather 
changed into a chicken that llcw on the trees. 

He started off again. His wife hail been tracking him. 1I« had been 
pulling along his deer hide with meat all the time, not noticing how hi- load 
was lightening as pieces of the meat tell out. The increased lightness of his 
load he attributed to his increasing strength. Hi- wife had fed on these 



» The narrator insisted that nothing further «;i^ known of Hi' Qtures. 



194 Anthropological Paper* American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. X, 

lost scraps of venison. She knew he had only one deer and kept track of 
the pieces found. She knew after a while that only the head was left. At 
last she found the head, and then she thought she had better turn back, or 
she should starve, that being the very last piece. 

Her husband continued until he got to an old woman. She was a toad. 
She said, "You won't travel a day, before you'll arrive at your destination. 
I can't tell you how you can best rescue your sisters, you '11 have to judge 
yourself when you get there." He walked on, and got to the tracks of the 
Cree. At sunset he saw smoke far ahead. He saw a lodge without poles, 
but tied together of sticks, with an opening at one side. He watched in the 
bushes all night. He heard the people talking Cree, but stayed in the brush 
all night. Some one had left a moose hide outside. 

In the morning he saw two women coming out of the lodge. They were 
his sisters. He made signs to them, and one of them came to him. The 
other woman worked at the moose hide. The man said, "This evening I'll 
try to rescue you from the Cree. Cover yourself with a blanket and tie it 
with a rotten string, so that when your husband tries to pull you back, the 
string will break. Tell your sister about it." In the evening the two women 
ate with their husband. They donned blankets and put sinew around, but 
the older sister used a kind of strong rag (?). The younger sister went ahead. 
She told their husband that they were going to fetch wood. The younger 
one started off. Her husband tried to restrain her, but the string broke, 
and she escaped. But the string of the older did not break, and so her 
husband held her back. The Chipewyan and his younger sister escaped. 
Every night, by their medicine, the Cree transformed the camping place of 
the fugitives into an island with fierce rapids around it, but in the morning 
the Chipewyan, by his medicine, conquered that of the Cree. Thus they 
got away in safety. 

The Bear and the Man. 

Once a man was cutting out the gunwale of his canoe in the brush. He 
carried it homewards, one end on his shoulder, the other trailing on the 
ground. From time to time it seemed to get heavier, and he said to himself, 
"I am sure, a bear is pulling at the wood." He turned around, and saw it 
was really a bear. The Bear said, "Do you hear the noise of the creek 
near by?" The man said, "Yes." "There are lots of fish there, let us go 
thither." They started off. The bear bade him leave his wood behind, 
and he did so. They walked on and on for many days, and by autumn they 
had not yet reached the creek. Then the Bear said, "Letusmakea house." 
He dug a hole in the ground, and told his companion to get grass to stop up 



1912.] , . < %ip( wyan Tales. 195 

the entrance. They went inside, and the boy was told to sil farthesl from 
the door. "If you get thirsty," said the Hear, 1 "you may suck me, and if 
you get hungry, you can do the same. Thus you will be able to live with 
me all winter." 

They lived together in the cave. Towards spring, the Bear said, "Some 
of your friends are thinking of you and will soon be thinking of me." When 
the snow began to melt he said, "Perhaps to-morrow your people will be here. 
Make a mark with your hand outside the cave, so they 'II know thai j on are 
here and won't shoot inside." Next day they heard a noise above, and 
snow began to fall down the airhole. The Chipewyan detected the mark 
of the boy's hand and said, "Surely some person is inside." The Bear said 
to the boy, "Tell them there is a bear-man here. If they kill me, you may 
eat my flesh, but not my entrails, though your friends may." The boy 
went out, and the people shot the bear, made a big fire, roasted him and 
feasted on him. The boy went on the opposite side of the fire, w here it was 
smoky, and began to cry on account of his friend's death. When they 
asked him why he cried he said it was on account of the smoke. ' 



WiSAKETCAK. 

(a) 

Long ago it commenced to rain. It rained incessantly. The Indians 
fled to higher ground. They gathered on the highest mountain. \\ i-.i- 
ketcak, who had expected a flood, built a canoe. When the land was 
nearly submerged, he embarked. The other Indians were having the water 
up to their knees. Wisaketcak did not permit anyone to get into his boat. 
The Indians asked the beaver to punch a hole into the canoe with hi- teeth. 
When the beaver got near the boat, Wisdketcak asked, " What are you com- 
ingfor?" "Just to look at your canoe." "Let me see your teeth, I think 
they are sharp." Wisaketcak threw a stone down the beaver's throat so 
that he could not injure his canoe. When the mountain- were flooded, all 
the Indians were drowned. Wisaketcak called a kind of long-tailed .link. 
"Brother, come here! It has ceased to rain. Dive down, and see whether 
you can find any mud." It dived for a long time. \t length it came up 
with some mud on its feet. It dived again and again, and every time it 
rose to the surface it brought up some mud until the earth was entirely 
rebuilt. 



■ Said to lie a male by the narrator. 

» In some respects this story resembl Inlbolne tale col 

series, Vol. IV, p. 100). 



196 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. X, 

(b) 

Wisaketcak was traveling about. He got to a deer skull. There were 
many maggots inside. He addressed them as follows: "Brethren, let me 
eat with you." They consented. He shoved his head inside; it stuck 
fast, so that he could not get it out. He turned himself into a deer, and 
continued to travel along. He got to a river. Not seeing any one near by, 
he began to swim across. When more than half way across, he caught sight 
of four birchbark canoes coming down. The people in the canoes were 
saying, "There's a deer crossing the river ahead of us, let us shoot him." 
They hurried towards him. The deer got ashore on a rocky bank. Falling 
down, he struck his head against the rock and broke his skull. He turned 
into his natural shape, and ran into the brush. The people cried, 'This is 
Wisaketcak!' 

He was traveling alone through the brush when he heard a bear running. 
"Brother, why are you running away from me? Stop there." The bear 
stood still. Wisaketcak began to feel about his ribs. "You are very lean, 
how is that?" "There are no berries around here, that is the reason." 
Wisaketcak said, " I know a place not very far from here, where there are 
lots of berries, let us go there." They started out, Wisaketcak leading. 
They got to the place, and the bear began to eat. When he had eaten his 
fill, he lay down in the sun, then he ate again. Wisaketcak noticed that 
the bear was fattening. He felt his ribs again. The bear asked, "What 
are you doing this for? "Oh! I always do that to my brother." Wisa- 
ketcak began breaking some sticks. " What are you doing this for? " " Oh, 
I just feel like working." Wisaketcak continued breaking sticks. While 
the bear was eating, Wisaketcak from time to time felt his ribs, saying this 
was but an old trick of his. Finally, the bear lay down, and fell asleep. 
Wisaketcak went up close to him, took a stick and struck him over the 
head, ears, and stomach until he had killed him. Then he cut him open, 
•and feasted on him. He ate so much fat that he began to have pains in the 
stomach. Looking around, he caught sight of two juniper trees growing 
together. " Brethren, spread apart, 1 have pains in the stomach." They 
obeyed, and he got between them. The trees closed, and jammed him 
tight. While he was in this position, some whiskey-jacks came and began 
to eat of the bear meat. "Little brethren," said Wisaketcak to the trees, 
"let me go to watch my food." However he could not get out. In the 
meantime, the birds devoured all the food, leaving nothing but bones. 
"Brethren," he said again, "separate and let me get out." After a long 
lime, he succeeded in freeing himself. Being angry at the trees, lie began 
to twist them about. Since then junipers have had irregular trunks. 



1912.] /..• wi< . i 'hipt wyan 7 I'.i, 

When he got down, he found nothing but the bear bones. Pounding 
these, he extracted the marrow and put it in a bladder, because it wa 
hot to be eaten. He got to a creek, sal down, and caught sight of a muskrat 
swimming there. "My brother, come here, and cool this grease for me in tin- 
water." The muskrat replied, "My tail is too big, I can'l swim well with 
it." "Come here, and I will fix it tor you." He pulled the muskrat' 
and made it small. The muskrat said, "My brother, I feel quite well now, 
let me have the bladder now, 1 will cool it." " Be careful, so that it will not 
burst." The muskrat dived down. The bladder burst, and the _ 
began to float down stream. Wisaketcak ran along, dipping it up with his 
hands. 

Wisaketcak traveled along night and day. He found fresh tra 
they were those of a moose-cow and two young moo "My brethren, 
why are you running away? Wait forme." Tiny stood still, and he caught 
up to them. "My brethren, you are foolish to stop like this. The Black- 
heads (Chipewyan I are following your tracks and will kill you. Keep travel- 
ing in a circle, hack and forth, turn about, and lie down on the leeward of 
your path. Then they will not know which tracks to follow, and you will 
be able to scent them and make your escape." This is what the moose do 
to-day, because Wisaketcak taught them. 

Wisaketcak started off again. He found that his eyes were getting weak. 
When he came to a big kike, he said, " I will try to gel new eyes." He cut 
out his eyeballs, and went about blind. Whenever he -truck a tree, he 
would ask it, " Brother, what kind of a tree are you?" And the tree won Id 
answer, "Poplar" (or whatever other species it belonged to . At lasl 
he got to a pine, and the tree answered, " I am a pine, I have plenty of .mini." 
Wisaketcak found the gum, chewed it, rolled it between his palm- and put 
the gum balls into his sockets. Thus he got new eyes. 

He traveled on, and gol to a big lake, where he found many < !ree Indian-. 
The Cree recognized him, and asked him whether he knew of an\ Chipe- 
wyan near by. "I did not come here to tell you aboul my brethren." He 
left them, and went towards the Barren Grounds. Then- he espied a 
many lodges in the open country, and encountered a large hand of Chipe- 
wyan. "My brethren, don't stay here too long, for many Cree are looking 
for you." He started off again. After a long time, he reached another 
band of Chipewyan, who were starving "My brethren, why are you 
Starving? There are plentj of ^^v not far from here, you OUghl to go and 
live there." In those days they had no guns. They started in the direc- 
tion indicated, and got the <U>rv. The} constructed a deer pen and set 
snares near its opening. Some began to drive deer, and man} wen- dis- 
patched with bows and arrows. At thai time the Indian- had no clothes. 



198 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. X, 

Wisaketcak said, "It will not be always like this. You will not wear deer 
raiment forever. Some time you will wear another people's clothes." And 
this has come true. 

Wisaketcak left the Indians. He got to a range of rocky mountains. 
" My brethren, you are too high, you had better come down into the valley, 
then I shall walk better." They came down, and he continued his journey. 
He reached a creek. Being thirsty he stooped to drink. He saw some fish. 
"Little brethren, what are you doing here?" "We are eating." "Where 
is your father?" "We don't know, he is just traveling." "If you see any 
Chipewyan Indians with nets, enter the nets and feed them." 

He started off again. He got to two mountains, where there were 
many birches, all without a single branch. "Brethren, you look too 
pretty without branches, you can't live long that way." He picked up 
brushes, threw them on the birches, and thus made numerous holes. That 
is why birches are striped nowadays, and Indians find it hard to make 
birchbark canoes. 

He went on traveling. He reached a little lake. He saw ducks swim- 
ming there. "Brethren, come ashore here." There was a female with 
young ones. "This little one looks like you," he said. "There are lots of 
you. If you see any Chipewyans, or Crees, fly around them, so that they 
may kill you and feast on you." 

He went on. He got to a little river, where he slaked his thirst. He 
saw two otters swimming towards him. "Brethren, what arc you doing? 
You have exceedingly short legs, they are not good for walking on land." 
" We arc meant to live in the water." " Live wherever there are fish. There 
are plenty of Chipewyan and Cree Indians going around starving. Go, and 
put fish on top of the ice to help them." The otters consented. 

Late in the fall, Wisaketcak reached a little river. He saw two beavers 
eating. "What are you doing here?" "We are just eating." "Why 
don't you build a house? Stick birches and poplar branches around, use 
mud for plastering, and put branches at the bottom. Thus you may live 
in the winter. Build a dam. If you don't do this you will have no water 
to swim in." He taught them. Since then they have always built dams, 
lie further told them not to swim about before sunset, or the Indian hunts- 
men would kill them. 

Wisaketcak continued his journey. He came to a herd of buffalo. 
Some of thnii began to run away. "Brethren, don't run away, I have come 
to see you." Then he asked, "What are you eating?" They said they 
were eating branches and <rees. He told them to eat nothing but grass. 
" If you see starving Indians, let one of you lag behind so that the Indians 
can feed on you." 



RD 1.4 & 



1912.] Lowie, Chipewyan Tales. l'.i'.l 

He traveled on. He got to a clump of pint's. 1 All the trees looked alike. 
"You all look alike, I will make one of you different." Addressing one i>f 
them, Wisaketcak said, "Brother, be stickier than the rest. You shall have 
more gum than the others." Thus originated the balsam fir, of which the 
gum is still used by the Cree. 

He started off again. His buttocks were getting blistered. He tore off 
the scabs and threw them on birch trees. Thus originated touchwood. 

Wisaketcak came to a lake. There he saw a flock of geese, -nine old, 
some young. "Brothers, come here for a little while. I am making a dance 
not far away, and I should like you to accompany me." I Le erected a lodge, 
and bade the geese enter. He called all kinds of other birds inviting them to 
join. He bade all shut their eyes. They began to drum. Wis&ketcak, 
as the leader of the dance, sat on one side. They danced around. When- 
ever a fat bird got near him, Wisaketcak pulled it over, killed it, and threw 
it aside. At last one young goose opened one eye and saw Wisaketcak pull- 
ing its father by the leg. "Wisaketcak is killing us!" it cried. The surviv- 
ing birds all fled. As the water-hen and the loon were running out, Wisa- 
ketcak stepped on their feet. That is why their feet are not fit for walking 
on land. Wisaketcak cooked the fattest geese, and had a great feast I |f 
the rest he took out the gizzards and put them aside, then he went in search 
of a stick to put them on. He forgot all about them, however, ami traveled on. 

He reached a place where there were plenty of ants. " Little brethren 
how do you live in the winter'/ You have a very low dwelling." "That 
is why birds are killed." (?) He showed them how to build ant-hilL. 

(c) 

Wisaketcak was traveling in the spring. He came to a place where a 
hear had been defecating and saw the excrements covered with fish scales. 
He laughed at the scales. The bear came, ami said, " I heard you laughing 
about my excrements; I have come to see what you are laughing for." 
Wisaketcak said, "I was only saying it was a pity there were no boi 
berries there instead of scales." They quarreled, and began to fight. Wisa- 
ketcak called on the ermine to help him. " My little brother, get int.. the 
bear's anus and destroy bis guts, or he will kill me." The ermine entered 
the bear's body, ate his heart, and thus killed him. When the ermine came 
out, Wisaketcak washed him, holding him by the tail, that is w h \ ermines 
have white bodies and black tails. 

Wisaketcak continued traveling. He gol to a rocky mountain, where 
he found plenty of Mark objects which cause flatulency. He ate many of 
them. After a while he began t<> break w ind and was unable t" stop, So he 



i I am using, of course, mj Interpr 



200 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. X. 

heated a stone, and sat on it. His rump became covered with scabs. He 
was obliged to scratch the itching parts until he tore them off and threw them 
up on the top of birch trees, where they are still visible. 

Wisaketcak set out to travel. He saw a band of geese. " My brethren, 
come hither." They came down. "Give me half of your feathers, so that 
I may fly with you to your country." They consented, and he flew along 
with them. They were obliged to pass through a rocky, mountainous 
country, where many Indians were living. Nets had been set to catch geese. 
When the birds approached these snares, they scattered to avoid them, but 
Wisaketcak's borrowed feathers dropped off and he fell down among the 
Indians. "This is Wisaketcak again, we will dung on him." They placed 
him in a pit. "Whoever shall defecate, shall befoul him." In the night 
an old woman rose to ease herself and went to the pit, but in the meantime 
Wisaketcak had got out, merely leaving his clothes. The old woman soiled 
his clothes. 

Wisaketcak went traveling again. He saw two moose. "Brethren, 
wait for me." He overtook them. " Brethren, you had better give me some 
hair, then I shall be a moose and stay with you." He became a moose and 
traveled with them. They told him that no Indians were near by. He 
joined about twelve moose. About the time of the heavy ice crust, Wisa- 
ketcak and one of the moose heard a noise. "It seems," said Wisaketcak, 
"that some one is coming after us. I will travel ahead and let you follow." 
The Indians came and killed the moose, one by one. Wisaketcak was left 
alone. When they got close, he tore off the moose-skin, turned into his 
real form, and ran off, leaving the skin behind. The people said, "That's 
Wisaketcak again." 

Wisaketcak was traveling. He came to a big lake where he saw some 
swans. "Brethren, come ashore to me." He asked them for some of their 
feathers, saying that he should like to be a swan. They consented, and he 
became a swan. One calm evening, one of the swans said to Wisaketcak, 
"You had better not cry so loud, or the Indians will hear us." It was the 
swan's molting time. Wisaketcak replied, "There are no Indians near by." 
However, he caught sight of some canoes going after them. The swans 
started out on the lake to escape, but got too tired to fly. Most of them 
were killed. At last, two of them and Wisaketcak were the only ones that 
remained. The two birds approached the shore and were also killed. 
Wisaketcak set foot on shore and tore off his skin. The people said, " That's 
Wisaketcak again." 

Wisaketcak go1 tiled. lie sat down. "I will not travel any more." 
lie seemed to turn into a stone. For a long time lie continued to sink below 
the ground. Only his hair was still visible on the outside of the rock. That 
was the end of him. 







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